Ocean Arrows

I can't think of anything that calms my soul more and makes me remember exactly who I am than the ocean. Just the sight of it makes my whole being just want to be still. I drove a friend who has a little bit of the winter blues to the ocean yesterday, and even if it was 20 degrees, I think oceans and their wide open spaces are exactly what tired souls need.

After that, we went to Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit, ME. http://www.arrowsrestaurant.com/index.cfm
The restaurant is set in an old farmhouse about two miles from Ogunquit center and is one of chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier's 3 restaurants. When we arrived, we could see a chef pacing back and forth in the kitchen. When we started to walk to the front entrance, he came outside to offer us carmelized onion and bacon pizza slices. I, of course, didn't partake but as I said, it was 20 degrees out so that was a very sweet gesture.Many magazines have written about this magical place, and now I understand why. They seat you facing the their gardens where they grow a great majority of the food that they make. In the winter it is lit with just the right amount of lights and large hanging ornaments, and hay bale presents...understated enough that it is really beautiful. From the floor of the restaurant (which I think is an open porch in the summer) grows a thin birch tree whose branches snake through the rafters of the wooden porch. Chef Clark Frasier came over to introduce himself shortly after our seating.

They were serving their Bon Appetit Christmas Menu which looked something like this:

* House Made Prosuitto with pomegranate, persimmon, baby greens, and pistachios.

If I remember correctly, I saw a persimmon in the store a while back and it was a very beautiful fruit. I wanted to buy it but never had eaten one and didn't want to guess how to use it. This dish was beautifully arranged with sliced persimmon at the front of the dish, in the middle was thinly sliced prosuitto, and in the back was some baby greens. Sprinkled across the dish were pomegranate seeds and baked perhaps? pistachios. I like to savor my food so I ate very slowly...

* Grilled brochette of sea scallops, fresh bay leaves, and orange saffron aioli

This was my absolute favorite dish of the night. I normally am not a huge fan of scallops after a run in with some very sandy ones and frozen ones in my time, but these made a believer out of me! They came side by side on a stick with bay leaves, and dried fruit (apricot maybe?) between the scallops. They were topped with the orange saffron aoili and a piece of fresh mandarin orange. I think what I loved the most was the smoky grilled flavor of the scallops.

* Risotto with White Truffle Gratin

Mine was risotto, my friend had a fun little soufle shaped dish of pasta with breading topping it. Each of ours had the white truffle gratin flavor that I am fairly certain my friend loved the most since I lost them somewhere was their face turned into "Mmm. don't talk, I'm savoring right now"

* Roasted loin of beef with foie gras and cherry and red grape sauce

The cherry and red grape sauce was my favorite part of this dish...candied flavor without being overly sweet. I have a hard time with red meat that isn't cooked to grey anyway, so I was thankful it was dark so that I didn't see it's color. I did eat half of it, so I was proud. In the future, I think I will gain some confidence and let the chefs know that I have some personal wellness issues with red meat. I tried the foie gras on top even though a month ago at Wd-50 http://www.wd-50.com/, as I  enjoyed the aerated foie gras I ate there, my throat closed a little afterwards. The same happened again last night so I won't be eating that again. I think the foie was intended to be a little gorgonzola typed tangy to offset the sweet. For red meat lovers like my friend, the dish was lovely.

* Tapioca "caviar" service with blini, candied fruits, toasted pecans, cinnamon, mint, honey, and creme fraiche

Mine was a slightly adapted version of this as blinis are small little pancakes, but in their place I had two cute little cups of gelato, one maple and one cinnamon pecan. The dish was so beautiful that I spent a few moments savoring the visual effect before I started eating. I loved the candied fruits, and the pecans were toasted with just a little kick to them. My friend and I had had a conversation last week about what exactly creme fraiche is so it was fun to get to taste it's creamy texture that is slightly cream cheese sweet and yet, not so sweet all at once. I loved my cinnamon gelato even though I had a hard time placing its flavor at first until my friend identified it for me.

All in all, a lovely evening, at a lovely place. As I got into my car, I realized that I had sand on my heels from the ocean...and it made me laugh.